A few years ago, I wrote this post – 10 Things 2 Years of Parenting has Taught Me.

Somehow, I stumbled across it again, and smiled at the lessons I shared and the memories from when it was just us and one toddler in our home. In fact, the lesson – pizza can be a breakfast food, made me chuckle as just this morning we gave our son a strawberry popsicle to coax him into sitting still for a haircut. When my daughter saw me reaching into the freezer for the dessert, she asked, “Why does he get one and not me?”

“Heck! It’s Friday,” I exclaimed and I tossed her a popsicle as well. Which leads me to my first lesson…

1. Pick and Choose your Battles.
   Tears over wanting to wear Crocs with a dress, needing the syrup to be BESIDE the pancakes and not on top, requesting that they paint their own toenails even though you know full well that also means their toes… my greatest advice is to pick and choose your battles. This does not mean giving in to your child every time they demand, bulk, or ask a request. It means, taking a deep breath, and giving up absolute control and the micromanagement of every aspect of their lives. It means allowing them the ability to make some decisions and giving them the grace when it isn’t exactly the way you would do something.
   
2. Your Car Will be Wrecked.
   Yes! No matter how hard you try… your car will be wrecked. Even when you swear no food or drinks in the car – you will bend. In fact, it most likely will occur on a long road trip when you realize your options are to stop and get all the kids out to eat or just keep trucking and hit up a drive-thru. There will be sports equipment stored in the vehicle versus home, because if it isn’t the car, you know you will forget it. There will be snacks stored in every door pocket and under seats. There will be jackets, and toys, and eventually, you will learn to just accept that your car is an extension of a room in your home.
   
3. You Will Learn to Like Mornings.
   Yes, kids still get up pretty early long after their newborn and toddler years. And, yes, there is something about a child’s internal clock that ticks quite early on Saturdays and Sundays. Even though you may rise with the sun, there is something nice and slow about mornings (particularly weekend mornings). I am talking about sleepy heads with bed head and the cutest jammies. Our kids crawl into our bed, and with a cartoon on the TV in the background, my husband and I close our eyelids and snuggle our babies, enjoying the routine of mornings.
   
4. Holiday Magic Returns.
   Remember when you were a child and sat for what seemed liked forever flipping the pages of the JcPenny’s Holiday catalogue? I would carry it around until the edges of the pages curled and frayed from the constant touch of my hands. How about the excitement of Christmas Eve and the difficulty it took you to fall asleep in pure anticipation of Santa to arrive? As adults, those simplistic joys seem to fade, but children have a way of of reigniting the spark and suddenly, holidays become magical once again.
   
5. You Will say the Most Absurd Things.
   “Don’t lick the concrete.”
   “Please don’t put your diaper in the toilet.”
   “Stop peeing on the floor!”
   “No! That’s dog poop, not a rock.”
   
   These are all statements my husband or I have made without even batting an eye at how absurd we sound.
   
6. Never say Never.
   Before we had children, my husband and I would totally judge parents out at restaurants with children that were on phones or electronic devices. “When we have children, they will not have a phone at the table,” one of us would say. HaHa!
   
   “What were we thinking?” we say to each other now as one of us loads ‘Baby Shark’ on Kids YouTube for one child, and the other uploads the Barbie Dreamhouse game on our phone for our other child.
   
7. The End of Your Work Day Actually Isn’t the End of Your ‘Work’ Day.
   I typically get to clock out of my job around 4:00 pm. Since my husband has his own company, he typically works much later. Nonetheless, just because we walk out of the door of our places of work that does not mean our day is over. Far from it! I usually joke, ‘Well, I am starting my second shift,’ as I pick up the kids and head home for an evening of dinner, playtime, homework, baths, and the bedtime routine.
   
8. Children Have a Sixth Sense.
   Whether its whispering to your spouse a room a way, or sneaking in an Oreo while making dinner, children have a sixth sense to know all and somehow see all. I am still not quite sure how they do it, or when we grow out of this amazing super power, but when they are little, they will in fact question any little white lie you throw their way.
   
9. Your Priorities will Change.
   Children have a way of naturally making you realize and appreciate the things that truly matter in life. Suddenly, when the world feels chaotic and life seems too much to handle, you look at your children and realize everything you need and everything that matters, is them. Life with children means prioritizing what is most important and placing their interests before anything else, which also become your best interests. Life, while it feels crazier with kids, it also feels much more intentional and meaningful.
   
10. Take All the Pictures.
    Have you heard the saying, ‘Don’t Blink.’ Of course you have. It doesn’t feel like the saying is true when you are in the thick of parenting. I can assure you that those first six weeks home with a newborn don’t feel like they are flying by. In fact, during those early weeks, I felt like the clock stood still. But there is also a saying which is, ‘The days will feel long, but the years will feel short,’ and that is when the sentiment, ‘Don’t Blink’ feels heavy. I look back over these five years and think, ‘where did the time go?’ and ‘how did it happen so fast?’ So, take all the pictures, and live in the moment, because time steals our youth and theirs so fast.